By the end of it, some early favourites had fallen -- Darlesha Goggans, Shane Garcia, Shanshan Qiao-Rothlisberger, Caleb Brauner, Tommy Tibball, Jennifer Jones – and two, Taylor Ward and Hampton “Xcercist” Williams, never got there: Taylor because of her dislocated knee and Hampton because of injuries from a car accident.

(Although it wasn't explained on the episode, the accident in March was a serious one. Hampton's lower spine was fractured according to his Facebook page and he needed surgery and now faces extensive physical therapy.)

We also saw likely top 20 candidates being singled out, like Malece Miller, 19, of Salt Lake City, the contemporary dancer with the Kewpie doll face from the Los Angeles auditions.

Malece's progress seemed to be in jeopardy after she was dropped on her head while rehearsing jazz choreography with ballroom dancer Armen Avetisov and taken to hospital for treatment of a possible concussion.

The implication from the way the event was edited was that Armen dropped her because he let his focus wander from rehearsing. After he and an unconcussed Malece made it through the routine despite Malece's night in hospital, Armen got a tongue-lashing from Mary Murphy: “You're good-looking, you're a great dancer, but it's not gonna be enough. You can never put anybody in danger.”

It was enough to get Armen through almost to the end of Vegas week, but despite his apologies and insistence that the incident had changed him as a person, he still got cut.

The tough-love tone was established from the beginning of the episode when the dancers had to go straight from the airport to the Planet Hollywood Theatre for the Performing Arts to do solos.

Malece and Du-Shaunt “Fik-Shun” Stegall, 18, a Vegas street dancer, got the most air time at this stage. Another 53 dancers were sent home without a chance even to unpack their bags.

After that it was hip-hop choreography with Napoleon and Tabitha D'umo. Animator Jade Zuberi, 21, of Dearborn Heights, Mich., was a standout in this round.

Sonya Tayeh's take-no-prisoners jazz routine was next. She was unhappy with the 77 remaining dancers' progress after an hour and made them stay up all night to practise and then perform in the morning.

Amy Yakima, 19, of Northville, Mich., was singled out for praise, along with Fik-Shun and Malece. Jade had to dance for his life, partly because his ballerina partner tried to blow him off, which reduced his rehearsal time, but he killed the solo and made it through.

Ballroom was next for the 69 dancers who were left, choreographed by SYTYCD alumni Dmitry Chaplin and Chelsie Hightower. Ballroom dancer Jenna Johnson, 18, of Provo, Utah, was a star in this go-round and, once again, Fik-Shun stepped up and mastered the choreography. Jade also made it through.

Next was group night, in which already exhausted dancers pulled another all-nighter, choreographing their own routines to randomly chosen music. There was the usual drama: personality clashes, bossy dancers, team members who wanted to sleep instead of rehearse.

A gold star went to the first group to perform, made up of ballroom brothers Alan and Gene Bersten, contemporary dancers Kayla Bingham and Jasmine Mason, and ballroom dancer Jenna. They used a fluid contemporary routine to portray the heroism and kindness that sprang from the Boston Marathon bombing, and earned tears and praise from the judges plus a pass to the next round.

Fik-Shun made it through a so-called hot mess of a group along with Jasmine Harper, Cyrus Spencer's ex, a ballroom dancer named Viktoria and a contemporary dancer named Jarvis McKinley. Group leader Chrystiane Lopes and contemporary dancer Derek Tabada, the one who decided to sleep instead of rehearse, weren't so lucky.

The tension between ballroom dancer Mariia Lebedeva and jazz dancer and Jennifer Beals look-alike Jennifer Jones didn't keep them from surviving group round, along with contemporary dancers Amy Yakima and Tucker Knox, and hip-hop dancer Markus Shields, after a really nice routine using chairs.

The final test of bodies and souls was Stacey Tookey's contemporary choreography, at which point only 54 dancers were left.

This was where Jennifer got knocked out, along with Misha Smagin and his ballroom partner, Mariia.

Tapper Curtis Holland, 18, of Miami, did very well and found the experience so exhilarating he was in tears before he'd even heard the good news, which got most of the judges crying.

Fik-Shun, Malece, Jenna, Amy and Markus also aced the round. So did Jasmine Harper, who channelled her pain and anger over her breakup with Cyrus into her dancing. At judge Nigel Lythgoe's urging, she admitted that Cyrus had rejected her instead of the other way around. Way to throw your Season 9 runner-up under the bus, Nigel.

Jasmine's partner, another associate of Cyrus's, Dorian “BluPrint” Hector, 19, of Atlanta, didn't do as well. He had to dance for his life along with fellow animator Jade.

The judges turned it into a battle between the men, except it wasn't really, since Tookey sent both of them to the next round after an entertaining pop-off.

Finally the remaining dancers had to tell the judges “what is special about you” to get further, which is where Armen bit the dust along with eight others.

The 33 who are left move on to the “green mile” episode, Tuesday at 8 p.m. on CTV Two, where the top 20 will be revealed and will dance for the first time as competitors.

It's a safe bet we'll be seeing more of Amy, Fik-Shun, Curtis, Jenna, Malece and Jasmine Harper. I'm guessing Jade and BluPrint won't both make the show, but we'll see.

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